Champions League: Barcelona still believe, Xavi warns Bayern

Barcelona will head into the second leg of their Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich believing they can complete a historic comeback despite a 4-0 humbling at the Allianz Arena.

The Catalans were given a taste of their own medicine last night by a bold and confident Bayern side who showed their march to the Bundesliga title this season was anything but a fluke thanks to two goals from Thomas Muller and one each from Mario Gomez and Arjen Robben.

However, after overturning a 2-0 defeat to AC Milan in the last 16, Barca are not giving up the ghost just yet.

"We are Barca and we've got to try to get to the final," said midfielder Xavi Hernandez. "We need to play a great game, but we know at the same time that it's practically impossible."

Xavi paid tribute to a Bayern side who outplayed and outmuscled the 2009 and 2011 Champions League winners like very few have achieved over the past six seasons.

"They were quicker than us and it was like a siege," he said. "We expected it to be like this.

"They are very strong physically and they were better than us.

"When you make mistakes in the Champions League, you pay the price.

"They were stronger than us. I don't know why we didn't attack well. They have extraordinary players like Robben and they just found it too easy to get past us."

Barca have been used to receiving rather than giving praise in recent years, regularly being branded as one of the greatest sides in history under their former coach Pep Guardiola.

Guardiola now looks likely to inherit a side receiving the same kind of plaudits when he replaces Jupp Heynckes in the Bayern hotseat next season.

However, the question has got to be asked what, if anything, he will be able to improve in a side who are looking increasingly likely to complete a historic treble this season.

"We have been playing some extraordinary football all season," said Heynckes.

"We have a fantastic team and missing out on success in the past two years has just made us hungrier to win this year. This game was a perfect example of that."

The example was not lost on Barca's assistant coach Jordi Roura either.

"They have to be congratulated," he said. "They were superior to us.

"We are in a difficult situation, but we are Barcelona and, as such, we have to make a fight of it in the second leg and try to win.